This is it now
by Loki'sTrueQueenOfAsgard
Summary: Daryl/OC Basically Cassie Grimes, Rick's sister stays with him at the hospital, she then joins him on his journey to find his wife and son. They're her only family. She encounters new friend's , old friends, enemies and the undead along the way. *Really bad summary but trust me, it's better then it sounds* Rated M for some chapters.


_*** "I'm leaving in a little while" I informed the boy standing in front of me. He looked up sharply. **_

_**"What?!" Came his reply.**_

_** "It's been a 2 months, I have to go home." I explained. He looked down. **_

_**"Why?" the 17 year old asked quietly. I gave a half smile and walked forward, putting my hands on his shoulders. **_

_**" I have to go home to my family. Meet my brother's fiancée. I can't stay out here forever, no matter how much I want to." He continued looking down and roughly brought a hand up and swiped at the tears that managed to escape from his eyes. **_

_**"Ya can't go! If ya go tha' means I gotta go back! I don' wanna go back!" I wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tight. He held me tight and I could feel his hot tears on my neck. I sighed and pulled away. I looked into his eyes and I knew what I should do, so I leant forward and pressed my lips to his. He didn't kiss back for a moment so I began to pull away. Quick enough he pushed his lips against mine urgently, holding my face in his hands. After a few minutes I pulled away and rested my forehead against his. **_

_**"I'm going to miss you so much" I whispered. My eyes watered at the thought of saying goodbye to the boy I'd fallen in love with after knowing him for only 2 months. I swallowed my tears and walked over to the bed and picked up a book. I grabbed a pen and wrote on the inside back cover before crossing the room and handing it to him. He led it for a minute and then looked at me. I put my hand over his mouth before he could ask questions and said.**_

_** "You need it more than I do. I know it by heart so I'm giving it to you, so you'll learn and you'll remember me. " I kissed him again, giving him one last hug and I grabbed my bag and then stood by the door. **_

_**"You'll survive this life. I know you will, things are hard but I know you'll be fine, you'll beat them all. You can keep this place. I own it anyway. This can be your getaway place." I smiled at him and then turned to leave. I stopped and looked back at him.**_

_**" Think of me some time" and with that. I left.***_

I had tears in my eyes from that memory. I could't think about it without tearing up. I shook my head and took a deep breath. I thought about that 17 year old boy all the time. 12 years since I said goodbye. We were both 29 now. If he was alive that is. Oh god I hope he is. I hadn't seen him after that, not once but I was still in love with him 12 years later, I hoped that if there was a God, my love was enough to keep that boy alive. It's been a month since the beginning of the apocalypse. From that book and the stuff I taught him, he had to survive, he just had to. I'll find him I promised myself. I looked at my brother. Lying in that hospital bed. I didn't know why I was still here, he wasn't going to wake up. I sighed and stood from the bedside chair and walked into the bathroom. I grabbed my backpack and opened it to reveal the last of the food. Suddenly I heard something. It was talking! It was Rick's voice! Then I remembered my brother wasn't waking up. I shook my head.

"You're going crazy Cass" I muttered to myself. Then I chuckled. Talking to yourself is the first sign of madness... A large bang sounded from Rick's room and I pulled one of my guns from my holster and quickly ran into the room holding my gun in front of me ready to stop anything from getting to my brother. My eyes widened as I saw my brother lying there on the floor, groaning and moving around.

"Nurse" I heard him cry hoarsely. I wanted to say something, anything, but I was frozen. He hadn't noticed me yet.

" Nurse, help" he tried again. He was breathing heavily.

"Nurse!" he didn't know that there were no nurses.

"help" I moved forward finally unfrozen.

"Rick" I said softly.

"Cassie" He looked up shocked. He held out his hand and I pulled him up. I gave him a hug careful to watch his shoulder blade, where the gunshot wound was. I pulled away and kept a hold in case he fell again.

"Can you get the nurse Cas?" he asked quietly, trying not to strain his voice anymore.

"There are no nurses, I'll explain after, you need to drink" I slowly took him into the bathroom and watched as he turned on the tap and water came fast and cold from the faucet. He cupped his hands and drank greedily. I smiled with a tear in my eye, my brother was awake! He sat on his bed afterwards and I sat on the chair.

"What happened to everyone Cas?" he asked. I took a deep breath and began to explain.

"It started about 2 maybe 3 weeks after you got shot. There were strange reports in the news, people dying, being eaten. Everyone thought it was a joke, until it reached here. People were being eaten on the sidewalks and people were... were coming back, from the dead. Eventually the military came in. Set up camps. I was in your room with Shane when... when.. some soldier... came in, they were firing on everyone, there was blood everywhere, everyone was running, trying to escape, I stayed in here with you, and Shane ran into the hallway, he came back dragging a bed, he picked you up, tried to get you out but you were hooked up to the machine and one wrong move could have killed you. We were trying to figure out what to do when the soldier came to the room, I dived into the bathroom and Shane hid under the bed." I looked at Rick, his eyes were wide and his mouth a gape as though he was trying to take it all in, which he was I suppose. I carried on.

" After they left he tried to take the machine with when they started blowing the place up. Frags went off. One explosion upstairs caused the power to die and your machine went off. You weren't breathing, or so we thought, but we couldn't see your check move and you had a pulse but we couldn't feel it. I told Shane to get out of here, go get Lori and Carl and get them out of here, he did, but he barricaded the door. I don't know what happened to them though" I cast my head down.

"I should have gone, made sure they were safe but I couldn't leave you" the tears began to stream down my face.

"You're my brother Rick, I couldn't leave you here, they have to be safe, Shane would give his life to keep them safe." Rick hugged me and soothingly stroked my hair, he was incredibly weak, but here he was comforting me.

"Cas, it's fine, you did what you could" I nodded and looked at his pale face.

"You need to eat, I don't have any food left, we should leave, you need clothes too." I said. He nodded and I helped him off me bed and I grabbed my backpack. I put 3 more guns in their holsters on my belt and I made sure they were fully loaded, I also put my hunting knife and machete on my belt.

"Why do you have all that?" Rick asked.

"I needed it, to keep us both safe. C'mon, let's go. " I opened the door and looked out. No walkers. I pushed the bed away and watched as Rick stumbled into the hallway. He looked down the empty hallway, the papers strewn around everywhere, chairs and wheelchairs either overturned or abandoned. We began to walk down towards the reception desk where Rick tried the phone. He began looking through items until he found matches. He lit one and looked around. Eventually we began to walk towards the east wing. Rick looked through the windows on the doors and looked at the chewed through body. The light flickered on and off and gave an eerie sort of gleam. Rick stared in horror for a moment before stumbling backwards and I knew he was trying to get the image out of his head, much like I had the first time I saw something like that. We turned towards the west wing. There was bullet holes in the walls, blood spatters on the other walls, pools of blood on the floor, bloody handprints and you couldn't walk without kicking away bullet casings. We passed through a set of doors and we stared in horror at the cafeteria doors. They were chained and locked shut and had a plank of metal through the doors so they couldn't be pushed open from the inside. In black paint it read 'DONT OPEN, DEAD INSIDE' We inched forward and as we dead the doors pushed open slightly leaving a tiny gap big enough for hands... and pale, white, dead hand crept through, reaching, trying to grasp something other than air. You could hear the growling and hissing. Rick was shaking in fear. Me, I was fine, I'd heard it so many times, it didn't faze me like it should. I may have been used to it but the sound still chills me to the bone. That noise meant death, Rick would soon learn that. Rick was getting scared; we walked fast through some more doors until we came to an elevator. Rick pushed the button but it didn't work.

"Rick, no power" I reminded. He nodded and then began to walk again, desperate to get out of here. He quickly opened the fire exit and we both went in, Rick shutting the door behind us. It was pure darkness. I began to breathe quite heavily, now I was scared. Rick grabbed my hand and squeezed it, knowing since I was a child, I was always scared of pure darkness, when you couldn't see anything, not even silhouettes. He removed his hand and I heard him strike a match. I quickly pulled out one of my guns and took of the safety, pushing it in front of me with my finger on the trigger. All you could smell was death. I coughed and we continued down the stairs till we came to another door, door that would lead us outside.

Rick pushed it open and tried to shield his face from the light. We walked down some more stairs and we both stared in shock as we walked between lines of white sheets which covered bodies. There were bodies everywhere. Piled in trucks, lined up or just dumped wherever there was room. I turned and looked at the hospital. It was destroyed, missing bits of walls. I turned and made sure Rick was okay and we began to climb up a small hill until we came to one of the military camps. It was abandoned. Though there were still trucks and tents and some helicopters. We walked through the camp and continued on down the road, all the while I kept my gun in front of me. I would protect my brother at all costs. We came across a bike. I ran over to it and picked it up. I looked at him and smiled. "We can use this to get home" He nodded and walked towards me. Suddenly I heard growling and I dropped the bike and turned around with my gun held in front of me. On the ground there was only the top half of a woman. She began to crawl forward with her hand outstretched. Even decomposed I know who this was.

"Hannah" I stated. I couldn't shoot her, the sound would bring walkers. I turned around and took off my back pack; I put the straps around the handle bars and straddled the bike. I looked at Rick who was staring in horror at Hannah.

"Rick, c'mon" He looked at me and stumbled forward and sat on the bike seat. I put my feet on the pedals and began to pedal, luckily I was strong and we climbed the hill and eventually we got to Rick's house. Rick jumped off the bike and into the house. I quickly followed with my backpack and gun.

"Lori, Lori!" He wandered into the living room and I stood by the front door, hoping if my sister-in-law and nephew weren't here then they were at least safe.

"Carl? CARL! " Rick yelled. I looked around. There were no walkers that could reach us. I walked inside and grabbed the phone. It still worked! I dialled Shane's number but before I could press 'call' I noticed Rick on the floor crying. I ran over to my brother.

"LORI, CARL!" he sobbed.

"NO!" He touched the floor,

"Is this real? Am I here?... wake...wake up" He muttered. I sighed as I looked down on my brother, Oh how I wished this was all just a bad dream and we could wake up from it, but it wasn't. I'd had time to accept that, Rick hadn't. I rubbed his back in circles.

"Rick, they're not here, Shane came for them, they're safe, Shane wouldn't let anything happen to them." I tried to reassure him. He walked outside to sit on the porch.

"I'll be right out, give me a minute." I turned to the phone and pressed 'call' I held the phone to my ear and hoped I'd get an answer. Nothing. I put down the phone and hit the counter. I heard shouting from outside, I grabbed my gun and ran out.

"I got this son of a bitch, I'm gonna smack him dead." A little coloured kid yelled. I raised my gun but kept in the shadows. There was a gunshot and the boys father ran over.

"he say somethin'? I thought I heard him say somethin'!" the boy nodded.

"He called me Carl" The man looked at Rick.

"Son you know they don't talk" I decided to step out.

"Hey! Get the fuck away from my brother!" I yelled. The man brought his gun up.

"I said; GET, AWAY, FROM, MY, BROTHER!" I took the safety off of my gun. The man put his gun down.

"Is he bit?" He asked. I stepped forward, closer to Rick.

"No, gunshot wound. Why?." I replied.

"Are you sure?" I shrugged.

"Yes, I'm sure!" The boy and his father looked at each other.

"We can help him, give you both food and shelter, I'm Morgan, Morgan Jones, this here's my boy Duane" I looked at them for a minute. I had to help Rick, and he needed food badly.

"I'm Cassidy Grimes, this is my brother Rick, I'll take your offer only because my brother need food, and we can't stay on the street any longer, not after you pulled that stunt with the gun." I put the safety on and lowered the gun into its holster. They followed the movement and I saw some fear etched on their faces when they saw my guns and melee weapons. I smirked and then my brother called me.

"Cass" I stooped down and looked at him.

"You okay Rick?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm fi..fi" and then he passed out.

"Jeez kid, how hard did you wanna hit him?" I put my arm around his waist and one under his legs and lifted him.

"WOAH" Duane said. I smirked.

"C'mon. " I said. Morgan and Duane walked forward until we came to a house at the end of the street. I walked in and Duane took me upstairs where I could put my brother. I heard banging downstairs.

"It's just my dad, he's barricading the door so they can't get in" Duane explained. I nodded. Morgan came upstairs and tied Rick to the bed and started tying his feet.

"What are you doing?!" I asked. Morgan finished tying his feet.

"You don't know what that injury is and neither do I" Morgan washed his hand and then took of the bandage on Ricks side.

"His shoulder is but I don't know about his waist..." I looked down and saw that Rick had bruising. I studied it for a minute. It seemed he's been shot with his vest on as well. Duane looked at me.

"Is he a bank robber" I looked at him and then I started to laugh.

" I'll let him answer that one" Morgan was just washing his hand again after changing the bandages when Rick started to wake up. Duane grabbed a baseball bat and stood there. I glared at him and then looked back at my brother.

"Got that bandage changed now, was a bit of a wreck. What was it? The wound?" Morgan asked.

"Gunshot" Rick replied. Morgan looked at him.

"Gunshot, what else? Anything?" He asked. I rolled my eyes. What else was this guy looking for, stab wounds? Grazes?

"Gunshot ain't enough?" Rick replied. I smirked. Morgan walked over.

"Look, I ask, you answer. It's common courtesy right?" Morgan leant down.

"Did, you get, bit?" he asked? What was with this guy and bites? Wait... the infection... it spreads through the bites. I turned and whispered my question to Duane. He nodded. I looked at my brother. He couldn't have been bit. I was looking after him.

"Bit?" Rick said skeptically. "Bit, chewed, maybe scratched anything like that?" Rick looked at me? I raised my eyebrows?

"Well? I asked, secretly crossing my finger and praying for the right answer.

"No I got shot, just shot, as far as I know." Morgan moved his hand forward and Rick flinched back and my hand inched towards my gun.

"Hey, just let me..." Morgan said, he continued moving his hand and he felt Rick's forehead, he then looked at me and Duane.

"Feel's cool enough" He said.

"Fever woulda killed you by now." Rick looked at me and gave a smile. I smiled back.

"I don't think he has one." I said. Rick shook his head.

"Be hard to miss," Morgan told us. He reached into his belt and pulled out a pocket knife. I grabbed my gun and took the safety off pointing it at him within seconds. He pulled it open and moved it in front of Ricks face. I moved closer.

"Remember what you're doing Morgan. 2 seconds to blow your head off, leave your kid helpless. " I said through clenched teeth. I knew I was being cruel and by the look on Ricks face so did he but in this world now... it really was survival of the fittest. I watched with bated breath.

"Take a second, look how sharp it is" He said, still with the knife in front of Ricks face. I think he was warning the both of us even though he was talking to Rick.

"You try anything, and I will kill you with is, don't you think I won't." Then he leant forward and cut through Rick's bonds. I let out a breath I didn't realise I was holding and put the safety on my gun and holstering it.

"Come on out when you're able" Morgan said before leaving the room with his son. Rick was flexing his hand trying to get the blood to circulate. He rolled over and looked at me.

"You okay?" he asked. I breathed out a laugh.

"Am I okay? Yeah, but I think I should be asking YOU that question. Are you? Okay?" I replied. He nodded.

"Yeah. I'm fine." I pulled him up off the bed. I turned to grab a robe that Morgan had said he could use but instead I was pulled into a hug. I hugged my brother back, hard.

"Thank you" he whispered.

"For what?" I replied. He pulled away.

"Staying. Helping Shane, being there for Lori and Carl, saving my life too many time in only a few hours" I smiled and kissed his cheek.

"You're my brother, I'd die for you... the only thing I wouldn't do is your laundry. Which reminds me, you need pants soon, I saw enough of you in your underwear when we were kids and boy, I do NOT need to see that anymore. I thought I escaped that horror when you moved out." I chuckled. He laughed; I shook my head and gave him the robe.

"C'mon, you need to eat" I walked downstairs and he followed. I walked down to see Duane at the table with Morgan next to him, handing out food. Rick looked at them and then walked into the living room where a bed had been set up. Morgan and I followed him.

"This place... Fred and Cindy Drake's" He said.

"Never met 'em" Morgan replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I've been here" Rick explained after looking at my puzzled face.

"This is their place." He stated.

"It was empty when we got here." Rick walked forward to the window where black cloth has been slung up so completely cover the window... sort of like blackout curtains from the war. He went to look out of it but Morgan stopped him.

"Don't do that! They'll see the light. There's more of 'em out there than usual." I scoffed.

"Well if you hadn't of shot that gun..." I trailed of giving Morgan a pointed look. Morgan sat down and I sat opposite him.

"Sound draws them" I explained to Rick.

"Now they're all over the street. Stupid. Waste of a gun, but it all happened so fast... I didn't think." Morgan said.

"You shot that man today" exclaimed Rick. Morgan looked at Duane and shrugged.

"Man?" He said looking over at Rick.

"Weren't no man" Duane said. Morgan looked at him.

"What was that out your mouth just then?" Morgan questioned.

"It wasn't a man" Duane rephrased and pronounced.

"Parenting, you're doing it right" I said with a chuckle.

"You shot him, in the street out front, a man" Rick said moving forward. I don't think he understood.

" For him, you need glasses, it was a walker. C'mon" He pointed at Rick's seat.

"Sit down Rick, before you fall down" I ordered. He grabbed Rick's bowl to fill it. He went to set it down but I intercepted and grabbed it. I used my spoon to shove half of Rick's into my bowl. They all watched as I gave Rick my nearly full bowl and set his down in front of me.

"He hasn't eaten in ages. I've eaten more than he has, he needs it more than I do" I explained. Rick sat down and smiled in thanks. I gave a smile back.

"Daddy!" Duane said as Rick went to tuck in to his food.

"Blessing" Morgan nodded.

"Yeah" he held out his hands, Duane took his right and then he stretched his hand to mine. I held mine out to Rick. He looked at us and then took mine and Morgan's hand.

"Father we thank thee for this food, thank blessing, and we ask you to watch over us in these crazy days. Amen. " we began to eat. Mine went quickly, which was fine as long as Rick ate. He needed his strength.

"Hey mister, you even know what's going on?" Morgan questioned. I looked between the two.

" I woke up today, in the hospital. Found my sister, came home, that's all I know." Rick explained.

"But you know about the dead people right? " I bit my lip.

"I saw a lot of that today. Out on the loading dock, piled in trucks." I thought back to earlier. I looked towards the window and silently thanked Morgan for taking us in. I don't think I could have kept Rick safe out there, not tonight anyway.

"No, not the ones they put down, they one's they didn't. The walkers." Morgan said.

"Like the one I shot today because he'd of ripped into you, tried to eat you, taken some flesh at least." He looked at Rick.

"I did tell him what was going on when he woke up but I'm not so sure it registered." I said looking at Rick.

"Well I guess if this is the first you're hearing of it, I know how it must sound." Rick nodded towards the window.

"They're out there now? In the street?" He asked.

"Yeah" I replied.

"They get more active after dark sometimes. Maybe it's the cool air, hell maybe it was me firing that gun today, but we'll be fine, as long as we stay quiet" Morgan said.

"We'll be fine Rick" I reassured him.

"They'll probably wonder off by morning, then we can go and get you some clothes and stuff okay?" He looked at me and nodded.

"Thanks" he muttered. Morgan said

"Well listen, one thing I do know. Don't you get bit. I saw your bandage and that's what we were afraid of. Bites kill ya; the fever... burns ya out. But then after a while, you come back" Rick looked down at his plate while I listened intently.

"Seen it happen" Duane said. I looked at Morgan. 'Mom?' I mouthed. He gave a slight nod. I leant over and put my hand on Duane's shoulder, gave it a reassuring squeeze and moved back. We began to eat in silence. After we were finished, Morgan helped me and Rick make up a bed on the floor. Duane had fallen to sleep and me and Rick were sat together. I had my head on Rick's shoulder and I was slowly getting tired.

"Carl" Morgan said, which cause both mine and Ricks head to shoot towards him.

"He your son?" He asked Rick.

"Yeah" Morgan nodded.

"You said his name today"

"He's a little younger than your boy" Rick told him.

"And he's with his mother?" Morgan asked.

"I hope so" Rick said, looking away.

"Dad?" Duane asked sleepily.

"Hey" he stroked his sons head gently.

"Did you ask him?" Duane muttered.

"Hah, your gunshot, we got a bet goin' my boy said you were, uh a bank robber." Me and Rick chuckled.

"Yeah, that's me. Deadly as Dillinger, kapow." He replied jokingly. I sighed and looked at my brother. He'd achieved so much where as I? I had nothing.

"Sheriff's deputy" I said to Morgan. He nodded.

"Uh huh" he said.

"What about you?" I looked at him.

"No boyfriend, kids... don't really have a job, I went to college and university, I sold a few books, no big deal. " I shrugged and looked down picking at my t-shirt.

"No big deal? A few books?" Rick said skeptically, looking at me like I was crazy.

"You sold over 3 million copies, and that's no big deal?!" I shrugged.

"Wait how do I not know who you are?" Morgan asked.

"I didn't use my full name. Cassie Rose" I muttered. He got up and grabbed a book from his shelf.

"You were my wife's favourite writer. She read this book to me and Duane a thousand times. Would you sign it for him?" He asked. I smiled and nodded, knowing it would mean a lot to Duane. He gave me the book. 'Is this really it? Is this who I am?' this one was my second favourite to write. My complete favourite was given away twelve years ago. I stopped myself from seeping back into that memory. Morgan handed me a pen. 'To Morgan and Duane, you will beat this world. Stay strong, love Cassie Rose' I closed the book and handed that and the pen back.

"Thank you" I shook my head and offered a smile before leaning on Rick's shoulder and closing my eyes. I was starting to drift off when an alarm sounded. Quick as anything I rolled over, grabbed my gun, cocked it and had it in front of me in seconds. Duane shot up.

"It's okay daddy's here, it's nothing." Morgan said trying to get Duane to calm down. I was breathing heavily due to my mini heart attack just then. I put my gun away.

"One of 'em must've just bumped a car." Morgan said. Rick stood up.

"You sure?" Morgan nodded.

"Happened once before. Went on for a few minutes. Get the light Duane" the lights went out and we finally got a look outside.

"It's the blue one, down the street, same one as last time." Morgan said after looking, he offered me a glance and I looked.

"Hey, that's mine" I exclaimed.

"What?" Morgan looked at me.

"It's mine. I didn't have to time stop for gas after I heard about Rick's accident so I drove straight to his house hoping to get a lift from his wife but she was at the hospital so I just ran instead. I'm pretty sure I still have the keys." I moved to my backpack and finally at the bottom. I found them. I moved to the window and moved the keys up and pressed the alarm button. It stopped and I sighed in relief, no more noise to draw in the walkers.

"I think we're okay" Morgan said.

"The noise, won't it bring more of them?" Rick asked.

"Nothing we can do about it now." None of us noticed Duane until he spoke,

" She's here!" he cried out urgently. I moved Rick away and saw a, once pretty, coloured woman stood in front of the house. She was a walker. I moved back and looked at Morgan. He nodded. I sighed.

"Don't look, move away from the windows. I said go, go on." Morgan pushed Duane towards the bed where he started to sob loudly. Morgan went over and sat with his son.

"Quiet, c'mon quiet now, shh, shh" I watched as Morgan's wife moved towards the porch. I moved to the door with Rick following me. I looked at him and then we moved at a distance so we could both see through the peephole. We watched as she began to walk up the stairs. She got extremely close to the peephole. I gripped Rick's hand. We both heard rattling and we looked down and saw the door handle moving. She was trying to get in. I backed away from the door and pulled Rick with me.

"She knows we're in here" I whispered. I was terrified. We both went on sat on the bed.

"She uh, she died in that other room, on that bed. Back then, I didn't know about it, that fever man... skin gave off heat like a furnace. I shoulda put her down then, I shoulda put her down. You know what; I just didn't have it in me. She's the mother of my child." Morgan explained. Rick turned and looked at me. I bit my lip and lay down. I needed some proper sleep. Eventually Rick lay down beside me and I fell asleep to the creaking of the door knob.

* * *

"Cas, c'mon we gotta be up" I forced my eyes open and saw Rick looking at me. He was dressed in jeans and a white tee-shirt. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. The door knob no longer creaked thank god. I stood up and put on my jacket. I looked at myself in the mirror as I put my belt and weapons round my waist and slipped on my backpack What I didn't plan on telling anyone was that, now my backpack had no food or water in it, it was full. There were 12 guns, 4 hunting knives, I had a mini crossbow with bolts and I had another machete in there not counting what was on my belt. The weapons didn't even take up half of it. The rest was full of ammo and extra bolts. My belt had 6 guns, 1 knife,1 machete and an aluminium baseball bat hanging from it. I had 2 knives inside my boots and 2 more strapped to my calves, I guess you could say I was packing a lot of heat. I had cotton material jeans on which were skinny but flexible and easy to move in. They were a light/dark kinda purple so they absorbed heat but not too much. I had a white tank top and grey bra with matching underwear and I had black hunting/hiking boots on. My face was a nice white, slightly tanned colour and it was oval, almost heart shaped. My shoulder length straight red hair was tied in a ponytail and my blue eyes were bright, but tired looking.

I heard ripping sound and I turned to see Morgan ripping off the planks of wood that barricaded the door. Rick was armed with a wooden bat and I had my machete out. Rick and Morgan were talking and I slipped out the door and looked around. I just so happened to see a sword or something in the bedroom next door.

I popped my head round the door and said "Be right back, I'll holler if I need ya." Then I kept my machete in my hand and I ran swiftly into the house. It looked to be empty. I snuck upstairs making barely any noise. I opened the door to the bedroom and then I heard the noise. The chewing sound. I looked around at the bed and saw a woman eating the inside of a man. I walked over quietly and sunk my machete into her brain. She fell down dead. I looked at the poor man who was slowly dying. He tried to smile and say something but I shook my head and whispered, "I'm sorry" to him and I sunk my knife into his forehead. I don't know why. I shook it off and reached up, grabbing the sword and pulled it off the wall. I grabbed the handle and pulled it from its sheath. I grinned, it was a katana. Cool. I heard growling behind me and saw a walker come towards me... a teenager. I put on my game face and swished the katana slicing his head clean off. I gave a small smile at the ferociousness of the weapon. I took off my back pack and put the katana over my back coming over my right shoulder... because I was right handed. I strapped it down and then put my backpack on top. I ran out into the street and saw Rick on his knees. I ran over and fell to my knees beside him.

"Are you okay?!" I asked. He nodded.

"I just need a minute." I got up and Morgan walked over.

"Where did you go?" He wondered as I helped Rick up. I pulled my katana from its sheath and held it up.

"For this beauty" I grinned. Morgan gave a low whistle and I slid it back in place. We walked over to Rick's house. I looked at his white tee-shirt, it had a blood spatter on it. Rick walked in, dropping his helmet to the side.

" They're alive" Rick stated. I looked at him. How did he know?

"My wife and son, at least... they were when they left." He said walking into the dining room.

"How can you know?" Morgan asked, following him. "By the look of this place they..." Rick cut him off.

"I found empty drawers in the bedroom. They packed some clothes. Not a lot. But enough to travel." Morgan wasn't so sure.

"Yanno anybody could have broken in here and stolen clothes right?" Rick pointed towards the walls.

"You see the framed photo's on the walls?" Morgan turned and I squinted my eyes at Rick... there were no framed pho... oh... oh.

"Neither do I... " I cut Rick off, telling him my thoughts.

"Some random thief take those too? No, Lori would have packed them. To show Carl, remind herself. So they wouldn't forget you" I said. He smiled.

"And you" I nodded. Rick turned to the cabinet and opened it ruffling through some stuff.

"Our photo albums, family pictures. All gone." Morgan began to laugh as he sat down at the table.

"Photo albums. My wife... same thing; there I am packing survival gear and she's grabbing photo alb..." He took a deep breath to control his oncoming tears.

"They're in Atlanta I bet" Duane said. I looked at him.

"Atlanta?" I asked.

"Refugee centre, huge one they said... before the broadcasts stopped. Military protection; food, shelter... they told people to go there. Said it would be safest." Morgan explained.

"Plus they got that disease place" Duane added.

"Centre for disease control... CDC" I said. Morgan nodded.

"Said they were working out how to solve this thing" Rick gave a half smile of hope and walked into the kitchen. I followed.

"Rick, what's the plan?" I whispered.

"We're gonna get cleaned up, clean out the department armoury and then... we're going to Atlanta." I grinned. I grabbed the sheriff's department keys from the rack and put them in my pocket. I turned around and gave a cheer, causing everyone to look at me. I picked up my leather, biker fingerless gloves from the table. I put them on and took out my machete when I saw a walker in the street. I grinned.

"Let's get this show on the road."

* * *

We had no car so we had to walk it but it was done swiftly and quietly with little interaction with walkers. Rick unlocked the door and turned his flashlight on and we began to walk through the dark corridor. I saw the coffee jugs which were full, I saw files. We continued walking until we got to the showers. I ran over and Rick turned 'em on.

"Yeah baby, hot water!" I whooped.

"Gas lines have been down for maybe a month" Morgan said. Rick knew what he was getting at and replied,

"Stations got its own propane system. Pilots still on" We all grinned. I shrugged my backpack off and my katana and through my jacket over the bench. I undid my belt and lay my weapons next to my katana. Next I pulled off the blades on my calves and then after I pulled off my boots, I pulled off the blades from the inside of my boots. I turned and saw the guys looking at me.

"What, gotta be prepared, dead people walking around and all..." I shrugged off my t-shirt and jeans and waited till the boys were in the showers to take off my underwear. I got under the hot water and almost cried.

"OMG RICK, This is amazing, best brother in the world!" all you could hear was cheering as we showered. Soon enough we were all clean and ready. I hurried into a cubicle and dried off. I took out a new outfit which consisted of the same trousers as last time only blue, another white tank top, same boots and same jacket, only this time I had black underwear on. . I'd tied my hair up again and then I changed and quickly got all my melee weapons in the right place. I walked out tossing the towels to the side and saw the other's ready as well. We walked down to the armoury and I whistled at the fire power in there. Rick opened it and looked around. He grabbed a fully loaded python and a Galil. I nodded thanks and took a handgun off my belt and stowed it into my backpack, replacing it with a python. I then grabbed my rope that were attached to the bag and wrapped the Galil on the back. I waited outside for everyone to be done. Eventually the 3 came out.

Morgan handed Duane a bag and said, "Duane take this to the car" Duane walked over to the car and I walked over to Morgan and Rick.

"Are you sure you won't come along?" Rick asked. Wait what?

"A few more days, by then Duane will know how to shoot and I won't be so rusty." Morgan replied. Rick walked to the car and pulled out a police radio, he tested it and said

"You got one battery; I'll turn mine on a few minutes every day at dawn. You get up there, that's how you find me." He handed the Morgan the radio.

"You think ahead" Morgan stated.

"Can't afford not too" I chipped in.

"Not anymore" Rick agreed. Morgan looked at us.

"Listen, one thing. They may not seem like much one at a time... but in a group, all riled up and hungry... man you watch your ass, you too Cas" By then Duane had joined us. I nodded.

"You two stay safe as well okay. Maybe when we meet up I can thank you properly for helping us" I said. Morgan shook Ricks hand and said,

" You a good man Rick. I hope you find your wife and son" Rick smiled and then said, "Be seeing ya Duane" I hugged Morgan and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you, for everything" Then I did the same to Duane.

"You take care of your old man" I said with a smile.

"Yes Ma'am "He replied. I nodded. They went to walk away when they looked behind us and stopped. I turned quickly bringing out my katana. I saw a walker behind the fence. Rick turned and saw it as well.

"Leon Basset?" Rick muttered.

"Didn't think much of him, careless and dumb but... can't leave him like this. " Rick looked sorta sad. I sighed.

"You know they'll hear the shot right?" Morgan mentioned. Rick pulled out his gun.

"Let's not be here when they show up" Rick said.

"Let's go son" Morgan said to Duane. I looked at my katana.

"Rick... Do you wan.." He knew what I was trying to say.

"No it's fine, I got it" I nodded and waved goodbye to the Jones' and then got into the cruiser and waited. Rick put his Python to Leon's head and pulled the trigger. He got in the car and started it up. Morgan led the way round until we got to the crossroads. Morgan tooted his horn and I reached up and pressed the sirens on quickly and with that we went our separate ways.

* * *

We drove for a little while and then stopped where I found Hannah.

"You knew her didn't you." Rick said. I nodded.

"She was a friend. Go on, I'll wait here" He nodded and got out the car. I watched him walk until I couldn't see him anymore. I turned my head and sighed. I just hoped I'd find Lori and Carl alive and that I didn't lose Rick along the way. They were the only family I had. I couldn't lose them. I heard a shot echo in the distance. I sighed and said a quiet goodbye to my friend and just waited for my brother to return. After a while I turned and saw my brother. He got in the car and looked at me. "Ready to go find our family?" Rick asked. I nodded.

"Let's go" I replied. He started the car and we drove away from this small town.

* * *

I heard my brother's aggravated sigh as we drove down the long stretch of road. I looked over at him.

"What's wrong?" I asked. He started to slow down and eventually we pulled over.

"Low on gas" I heard him say. I looked ahead and saw a gas station. I pointed at it. He nodded and we got out of the car. I kept my hand on the handle of my katana just in case.

"Why do you have your backpack on?" Rick asked as he walked round to the trunk.

"I always have it on can't risk leaving it in the car and someone coming a long and stealing it. I'm just cautious is all" I replied. Rick grabbed a gas canister from the truck and we began to walk towards the gas station, passing abandoned cars. We stopped and looked down the small bank. There looked to be an empty camp. Neither of us said a word as we walked down the small grassy hill and began weaving through empty cars... well empty except for the corpses, luckily none of these wanted to devour us. There were tents, children's toys and baskets of laundry plus other things scattered around us. The birds chirped and the breeze was cool. I looked into a car as we passed and saw a coloured woman leaning slightly. I wondered if she was dead but judging by the smell and amount of flies surrounding her, I'd say she was. I turned away quickly and we continued moving. We reached the gas station and I pointed to a sign that was moving in the wind. It read 'no gas' Rick shook his head and we turned to walk away. I heard movement behind us and I turned quickly pulling out my katana. Touching Rick's arm for his attention I dropped to the ground stealthily. Rick dropped his hat and came down next to me. We both looked under the car and saw a child's pair of bunny slippers. They were attached to legs which kept walking only to stop and pick up a teddy bear. Me and Rick shared a look of hope and we both stood quickly and moved around the car, where we saw a little girl in a pink nightgown and robe walking away from us.

"Little girl?" I said, hoping to get her attention. I put my katana back in its sheath and watched as Rick attempted to get her attention.

"Little girl, I'm a policeman, little girl?" She stopped.

"Don't be afraid okay." I said stepping forward. I slowly reached out my hand. "Little girl"

She turned around and I looked at her in shock. She had a chunk missing from her mouth and cheek. I turned away and walked past Rick. She was one of them. I refused to shed a tear even though I wanted to. I could hear her growling and taking slow steps towards her next meal, her footsteps began to quicken and I heard a quiet "Oh god" from Rick before everything was silenced by as gunshot. I heard her blood spatter and I turned to see her body hit the ground. Rick slowly lowered his gun. His eyes were wide and glassy. I moved forward and hugged him. He put his gun away and hugged back.

"C'mon, before others come" I said pulling away and tugging him back to the cruiser, picking up his hat along the way.

* * *

It had been quiet for some time. We were trying to make as many miles as we could on a small amount of fuel. Rick picked up the walkie and began to talk, "Broadcasting on emergency channel, we'll be approaching Atlanta on highway 85. Anybody reads? Please respond. "He handed it over to me.

"Hello? Hello. Can anybody hear my voice? Anybody out there? Anybody hears me please respond. Hello, can you hear my voice?" I sighed. Still nothing.

"Broadcasting on emergency channel, we'll be approaching Atlanta on highway 85" I repeated. I put the walkie back on the dash and then slammed my fist onto the dash.

"Dammit, is everybody to damn idle to pick up a fucking radio?!" I growled.

"Hey calm down. Maybe they don't have a radio. It was a lucky shot anyway. C'mon we're out of gas" Rick replied as we slowed to a stop. I nodded. Rick flipped open the driver's sunlight window and pulled out a picture of him, Lori and Carl. He tucked it into his pocket and we stepped out. He grabbed his gas can and his bags and we began to walk. I saw a walker up ahead. I stopped Rick and quickly grabbed my Horton Scout HD 12 mini crossbow from my bag.

"Watch and learn bro" I muttered to Rick. I put my foot on the head of the bow and added a bolt and quickly pulled it up, sort of like reloading and cocking a gun. I held it in front of making sure my fingers weren't near the string and I lined my shot up with the head of the walker with my scope. I pulled the trigger and my bolt zooms straight ahead and the walker falls down dead. I smirk at Rick who laughs at me and I run forward picking my bolt from the dead guy's eye. I wipe of the gore and replace my crossbow in my bag and wait for Rick to catch up to me.

"Do you think we'll find them?" Rick asked. I place a hand on my brothers shoulder.

"I think we will... Shane too" I smiled and we carried on walking.

* * *

After about 15 maybe 20 minutes of walking we finally came across a driveway that led up to a small farmhouse. I looked at Rick.

"Finally!" I said. Rick dropped his bags when we reached the front of the house.

"Hello!" He hollered. I kept my hand on my katana... just in case. I saw no movement from inside the house... so I yelled something that made most people open their doors.

"Police Officer out here!" Rick looked at me. I shrugged. Still no movement.

"Well, they're dead then" I muttered. Rick gave me a look of disbelief.

"What?" I said. "They probably are... wanna bet?" Rick just shook his head and walked forward muttering something about me being a 5 year old. "Well can five year olds shoot crossbows like me? No, therefore I am not a 5 year old. And no, I don't act like one either!" I said shooting my tongue out at him. I then slapped my forehead realizing what I just did. I growled to myself and listened to Rick shout again.

"Can I borrow some gas?" He went to walk up the porch.

"It's not borrowing if you don't give it back." I said to Rick. "Can we have some gas?!" I yelled. I stayed by the bag while Rick walked up to the house. I took out my knives and began throwing them at the tree to amuse myself and to brush up on some skills... but mainly to amuse myself. I only noticed Rick when he brushed past me to sit down. I grabbed my knives and replaced them to their original places and sat down by my brother.

"They dead?" I asked. He nodded. I bit my lip and looked around.

"Rick, a truck" He stood up and jogged over there. I grabbed his bags and ran after him. He shut the door looking disappointed.

"Nothing?" I asked. He shook his head. I gave him his bags and sighed. What were we going to do? I looked behind Rick and grinned.

"Uh Rick. " I said pointing at the horse behind us.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Rick asked. I shook my head.

"I was thinking it first so you must be thinking what I'm thinking." I replied. He looked at me.

"Shut up" He said pushing my lightly as we headed towards the horse.

"Just because you're older doesn't mean you still tell me what to do Richard James Grimes" I fired with a grin. I missed banter with my brother.

"I believe it does Cassidy-Anne Rose Grimes" I glared at my full now and ran in front of him to the horse. I opened the gate with Rick following behind. The horse whinnied. I smiled and held out my hand

. "Easy babe, I'm not gonna hurt ya, nothing like that." I soothed walking forward.

"Atlanta's just down the road-away's, food shelter, people, other horses too I bet" I smirked at my brother.

"Am I not good company enough that you have to make conversation with a horse?" I asked. Rick got the rope around him and then I jumped up moving my backpack around to the front. Rick jumped on after.

"Let's go easy okay" I said. "I haven't done this in years." Then the horse began to canter.

"Woah, easy, easy boy" I said trying to steady myself. All I could hear was Rick laughing at me.

"Shut up Rick, like you can do any better" I yelled.

* * *

Eventually we reached Atlanta. The horse, which I named Chestnut slowly, started walking into the city. There were abandoned cars everywhere... even a broken down train. The roads were empty, nobody, living or dead. Eventually we found an abandoned military camp. That's when I lost some hope. There was nobody. There were dead people on a bus we passed. They came stomping out ready to eat us. We trotted off when the horse got spooked.

"Hey easy, nothing we can't handle" Rick soothed. Suddenly Rick grabbed the reins off me and we started into a canter.

"Rick what are you doing?" I asked.

"Chasing that helicopter" came the reply.

"What helicopter?" I asked, I was starting to worry. We turned a corner and that's when I panicked. There were hundreds of walker right in front of us.

"Rick, back, back now!" I cried. He turned us around and we cantered back only to run into more walkers. The undead filled the streets around us. We were trapped. I grabbed Rick's hand.

"We'll get out of this right? I'm not losing you." I said. Before he could reply a walker grabbed my leg. I started kicking him trying to loosen the grip when suddenly I fell. I hit the ground and immediately the walker began to swarm. I swung my backpack round and began to crawl under the tank closest to us.

"CASSIE" Rick screamed. "GO RICK, JUST GO" I yelled still crawling. I couldn't see him now. I looked back and none had followed me yet. I looked up and saw a hole to go into the tank. I jumped up and quickly pulled out my Python and aimed it at the hole. I heard the horse cry out and then a bang. I could only assume the horse had fallen. Tears began to stream down my face. I should have closed the hole to ensure my survival but I hoped my brother would follow me. I heard the sounds of the horse being ripped open and I could hear the walkers feeding. I heard gunshots. I looked down and saw him.

He couldn't see me. He held the gun to his head and said, "Cassie, Lori, Carl I'm sorry. Before he could pull the trigger I grabbed him by his neck and drug him up into the tank and closed the lid. I grabbed my brother and sobbed into his neck. He hugged me tightly. When I'd calmed down some I pushed him away and began hitting his chest.

"You dick, you were just gonna blow your brains out?! What about Carl? Lori? Shane? ME FOR FUCKS SAKE! YOU WERE JUST GOING TO GIVE UP?!"I yelled. I took a deep breath and shook my head.

"Do that again, I'll kill you" I muttered grabbing him in another hug.

"Wait, where are your bags?" I asked.

"Out there, I see you still have yours." He pointed out. I nodded. I pulled off my backpack and opened it so he could see.

"How many guns?" He asked, stunned.

"Enough" I said shortly. I pulled one out and handed it to him taking his Colt Python and reloading it.

I gave it back and said, "Make 'em count." He nodded. "Also, don't tell anyone okay. Those are mine. Not anyone else's... mine. I'm not being selfish Rick but If I can ensure my survival and I can help others... also some people'd do anything to get them" I made it clear. He nodded again and I smiled. He noticed the dead soldier next to us and he pulled out the guy's gun. That made the soldier turn his head and growl at us.

"Ahhh" Rick yelled before shooting the guy in the head. I clutched my head and tried to block out the sound. Rick stumbled up doing the same and opened the hatch on the top of the tank. The sound was deafening. Rick shut the hatch quickly and I could hear undead fists pounding on the tank. We were surrounded. Rick fell to the floor and held his head.

He checked his guns and I said, "What do we do Rick? We've come this far" That's when the radio went static. I shot over to it and heard.

"Hey you, yeah you two dumbasses in the tank, cozy in there? "

***Please review and favorite. I've been watching The Walking Dead since it started but only now did I decide to start a fanfic. Just please review and let me know how I'm doing :) Thanks for reading!**


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